Life, With Pits & All

Good morning, Kitschies!  No, I didn't forget about y'all yesterday - it was just SUPER busy at work.  I am in the process of working on our new EMR program and it's a tad overwhelming.  I can usually work on things here at the clinic for hours at a time, but this?  I can only work on it for about an hour before my brain just stops working.  Like, I can't think of the next step even though I've done it over and over again.  *sigh*  At least I'm off tomorrow.  Don't you just love 3-day weekends?

OK.  So.  I've had this recipe in my pending file for a while (was it before Thanksgiving?!).  One weekend I told my hubs I wanted to make a pie and he immediately said "Cherry!".  I went browsing through my Allrecipes recipe box and found a tried and true recipe for his beloved cherry pie.

Cherry Pie
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup cold water
1 pinch salt

2 pounds sour cherries, pitted
1 1/8 cups white sugar
3 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp almond extract

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the shortening until pea sized. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Roll one ball out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place bottom crust in pie plate. Roll out top crust and set aside. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.) In a saucepan, combine cherries, sugar and cornstarch. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the juices thicken and become translucent. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and almond extract. Mix thoroughly and pour into pie shell. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

NOTES:  I didn't use the crust recipe given here; I used pre-made refrigerated dough and rolled it out to fit the 9-inch pie plate.  I didn't want to mess with the lattice top, so I borrowed Nate's PlayDoh cutter and cut out a bunch of cute little snowflakes for the top.

Separating out the juice from the cherries would've been easier if it wasn't the consistency of jelly.

I was afraid the "sauce" wouldn't thicken because it seemed pretty thin once I removed it from the stove.  But once it sat in the fridge for a bit, it firmed up perfectly!

It's been too long since I prepped a pie shell.  I cut the edge of the crust too short and didn't leave any to tuck under.  I ended up with crispy edges as a result (and that's even *with* a pie hat).

Aren't those little snowflakes cute?!  I should've made more and overlapped them a bit, but it wasn't bad for my first try at something decorative like this.

See?  Crispy edges.  *sad Megan*  Well, you can't win them all!  LOL  Yep.  I really should've made more snowflakes.


Today is my Friday here at work...and I definitely need the break!!  4 straight days of stress headache is wearing me down.  I may be back with a post tonight, or it might wait til tomorrow.  Or the weekend.  Either way, I'll be back.  Oh, and I'm going to announce a little giveaway some time in the next week, so keep your eyes open!

Easy As Pie

Good morning, Kitschies!!  How's your day?  Mine is being spent at home with the boys because we're having some daycare issues.  I'm not going to get in to that now, but let's just say that I feel a change coming.  Anyway...the weather has certainly cooled off compared to a week ago.  Just last week we were having temps close to 90* and today we wore jeans and sweatshirts to the park!  I love this time of year (minus the balloons).  The cooler temps, the food - it's all good!! 

Today's recipe is no exception!  While at the library a couple weeks ago, I borrowed the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, limited edition pink plaid cookbook.  I think everybody has the red plaid book, well, except for me, so this pink book grabbed my attention.  And, it's rather fitting that I chose that considering that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

This cookbook has a special section in the back for healthy living.  It has some good tips and some yummy-looking recipes.  But, I wasn't on a mission to start healthy living this time.  I was on a mission to use some awesome Fall apples.  Let's look at what I found.

Apple Pie
1 recipe for double-crust pie
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 2 1/4 lbs)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Prepare and roll out pastry for double-crust pie.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry circle.

2. If desired, sprinkle apples with lemon juice.  In a large bowl stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add apple slices, and, if desired, cranberries.  Gently toss until coated.

3. Transfer apple mixture to pastry-lined pie plate.  Trim bottom pastry to edge of pie plate.  Cut slits in remaining pastry circle; place on filling and seal.  Crimp edge as desired.

4. If desired, brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar.  To prevent over-browning, cover edge of pie with foil.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove foil.  Bake 20 minutes more or until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly.  Cool on a wire rack.  To serve warm, let pie cool for at least 2 hours.

NOTES:  I took the easy way out and used store-bought pie dough.  I don't own a rolling pin and having made pie crust from scratch, I can tell you it's worth the cost to buy pre-made dough.  I used Granny Smith apples.  I did use the lemon AND the cranberries.  I like the tiny touch of tart they lend to the pie. 

I have no idea how many apples were actually used in the end, but this sure made a heaping pie!  Good thing they cook down.  The apples are so good mixed with the sugar and spices!

Ready to be baked!  Our family has a tradition of baking a *bunch* of pies for Christmas.  A group of the womenfolk get together a morning before Christmas and make pie after pie after pie.  We're talking 20 or more pies!  Anyway, along with making dough from scratch, we learned how to make the crimped edges and the vents on top.  And let me tell you - crimping the edges with long fingernails is not fun.

I

It kinda looks like my pie is wearing a foil hat to ward off an alien invasion.  But it's not.  I'll call this a pie hat - it helps protect the edge of the crust from getting too brown while allowing the inside to bake and the middle to brown.

Baked to perfection!  This smelled so good - I almost didn't want to wait til the hubs got home to dig in to it.  But, luckily for him, I did.

I had never made a double-crust apple pie before.  Usually the hubs prefers crumb-top apple pie, but I gave him the choice and he said "What the hell?  Let's go with double this time."  I was kinda surprised, but the man never ceases to surprise me.  The spices in this pie weren't too strong - I hate it when you bite in to an apple pie (or any kind of pie, for that matter) and you can't taste the apples.  Oh, and the crust came out perfectly browned with the aid of the pie hat.

Do you have a favorite pie?  Or even a favorite dessert?  This isn't my *favorite* dessert, but it's definitely up in the top 5.  I don't know what it is about cooking, but things always seem to taste better when somebody else makes it for you!

Well, I can hear Thing 2 has woken from his nap.  I guess that means my blogging session is over and it's time to feel the animals.  Have a great rest of your day!

Coocoo for Coconuts

Happy Tuesday, dear, dear readers.  I hope the beginning of your week is going along smoothly.  I didn't go in to work yesterday, so it's basically my Monday, though it hasn't been as bad as the usual Monday.  *whew*  I'm also on the late shift at work so I don't have to be here at the crack of dawn...so...YEA!!

Anyway...Saturday was game night with the bestie and her hubs (which also happens to be bestie with my hubs).  I don't know what it was about Saturday, but I just wasn't feeling it.  It was probably because I was stressed after a little trauma involving my little boy (he's ok, but it stressed me out).  Either way, I didn't have as much fun as I usually do.  I'm getting sidetracked.  They came over for dinner and since we usually have them over to our place, we told them it was their turn to bring dinner.  They brought delicious potato soup (I'M STILL WAITING FOR MY RECIPE BEN!) and Italian bread.  We provided the salad, some protein (the hubs insisted that bacon in the soup was not enough protein) and dessert.  After dinner, and after the kids went to bed, we played my new Trivial Pursuit game: Bet You Know It.  We had a lot of fun with that - it's a *little* different than the typical TP games, but it was still full of great questions.  Once we'd had enough of that, we went on to Rock Band - good times were had by all - except for Ben.  He slept on the couch.  What an old man!!  They didn't end up leaving til about 2:30.  Let me say this: I am too old to stay up past 2 in the morning!!  Maybe without the kids, but with the 1- and 4-year-old waking up at 6:30, notsomuch.

I wanted something different for dessert so I went surfing my fave recipe site: Allrecipes.  After much searching and tossing a couple recipes to the side, I landed on Coconut Cream Pie.  My mom isn't a fan of coconut, so we didn't ever have this pie around the house.  My sister and I really like coconut, so I did this for her (even though she lives 800+ miles away). 
  
Coconut Cream Pie 

3 cups half-and-half
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (9-inch) pie shell, baked
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed 

In a medium saucepan, combine half-and-half, eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in 3/4 cup of the coconut and the vanilla extract. Pour into pie shell and chill 2 to 4 hours, or until firm. 


Top with whipped topping, and with remaining 1/4 cup of coconut.

To toast coconut, spread it in an ungreased pan and bake in a 350 degree F (175 degrees C) oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. 


NOTES:  I took the suggestions from some of the reviews and instead of flour, I used cornstarch, a can of coconut milk and half-and-half to make up the 3 cups. 

By the time we got around to having pie, I didn't feel like toasting the coconut to put on top.  I don't think it made that big a difference - it just made the whole pie kinda boring to look at.

 

This was really good - especially for my first time making a cream pie.  I think next time I'll try banana cream pie. Mmmmm!! 

Speaking of my mom...she started her own blog yesterday.  It's called More Than Quilting and you should go over there and take a look!  What can I say?  I'm just a bad influence.

And while we're on the topic of pimpin' blogs, go check out one of my favorite cooking blogs: From the Kitchen of: Mrs Bettie Rocker.  She's hosting a giveaway of a $40 CSN Stores gift card.  This place has it all: furniture, cooking tools, clothes, fun stuff for the house.  So, stop on by her blog, follow her (if you want) and tell her I sent you.

Sorry for the blah pictures.  The pie was better tasting that the pictures suggest.  I'm off to get some work done.  Imagine that!  Have a terrific rest of your Tuesday.  See you tomorrow for Workout Wednesday!

I am *fighting* with Blogger today.  Is anybody else having issues???

Listening to: A Bad Dream by Keane
Mood: Monday?